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Week In Review: Last One Before Conference Play (Week of 12/21)

This week was the last one before both the men’s and women’s basketball teams begin the Big East portion of their schedules. Here’s what happened this week amongst the commotion of the Christmas holiday:

Injury Scare:

The men’s basketball team was the only squad to hit the court this week, playing against Delaware on Tuesday night. Villanova shook off the loss with a resounding 78-48 win over the Blue Hens. Josh Hart put together a solid 18 point, 14 rebound performance. For Delaware, Kory Holden scored a game-high 23 points. All of this seemed irrelevant for a while, as there was concern for Kris Jenkins. Jenkins left midway through the first half with an apparent knee injury and did not return to the game. An MRI a day after revealed that the junior forward will be listed as day-to-day with a right knee sprain. Jay Wright and the team let go a sigh of relief. With Villanova playing Penn tomorrow and #6 Xavier on New Year’s Eve, it will be interesting to see his availability and how he will be able to perform.

There’s no doubt that Jalen Brunson played a big role in helping Team USA win the gold medal in last summer’s U-19 FIBA World Championships, where he took home MVP honors. On Monday, the freshman guard was given another award to add to his list of accomplishments. Brunson was named the 2015 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year for his play in the FIBA World Championships. The Lincolnshire (Ill.) native joins an exclusive list of past recipients, including the likes of current NBA stars LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Tim Duncan, and even his Airness himself, Michael Jordan.

Big East Baseball:

The Big East released its annual preseason look ahead to the baseball season. The Villanova Wildcats were projected to finish in a three-way tie for fifth in the Coaches’ Poll, sharing the spot with Butler and Georgetown. Villanova finished 22-28 last season. One of the bright spots of last year was second baseman Todd Czinege, who was a unanimous pick for this year’s preseason All-Big East Team. Czinege enters his junior season after a successful sophomore year in which he was named to the All-Big East First Team. He started in all 50 games last season, batting .327, a .372 on base percentage, and 29 RBIs.

About The Author

Eugene Rapay '16 created "The Bench Mob" in November 2013. He joined the Villanova Times in 2012 as a writer. A Westchester, NY native, who will bring top quality coverage of all things Villanova sports.